I’m a fan of Ezinearticles.com. Really. Or, I used to be.
As Stoney deGeyter pointed out in an earlier article, their “editorial” controls have become real nitpicky…to the point where they are almost a bad joke.
Instead of preaching any more, I’m going to post my entire correspondence with them concerning the submission of my article “The Chattahoochee Hill Country Domain Rush“…a story that made the front page of Sphinn.
EzineArticles Support wrote:
Hi Todd,
I would suggest making it clear that they are simply examples and not
sites that you use. I would also focus on adding more informative,
unique content.
Your article needs to clearly provide the reader with informative
tips from an instructional perspective, per our editorial guidelines.
Your article can also not be in the form of a blog post or
correspondence.
Thank you,
Abby
https://EzineArticles.com/
——
Important Information: If you wish to reply to this message, please
keep the tracking number in the subject.
At 12:11 PM 9/21/2007 Friday, you wrote:
>
> Can you please let me know how I can change it without destroying the story? I do mention domain names but the intent is instructive not promotional. All those domain names are parked anyway…no sites exist to promote.
>
> Todd
>
>
> Original Message: (From: EzineArticles Support on Sep 21, 2007 11:55 AM)
> ———————————————————————————————–
> Hi Todd,
>
> You are still listing your domain names in the article body, which
> according to our guidelines, is too self-promotional.
>
> Also, your article is formated as a blog post. Per our guidelines we
> will not accept articles that are in the form of a Blog Post or
> Correspondence. We will only accept informative, instructional,
> unique
> articles.
>
> Thank you,
> Abby
> https://EzineArticles.com/
>
> ——
> Important Information: If you wish to reply to this message, please
> keep the tracking number in the subject.
>
>
>
> At 04:42 PM 9/19/2007 Wednesday, you wrote:
>
>
> At 11:55 AM 9/21/2007 Friday, EzineArticles.com Support wrote:
> >
> > Hi Todd,
> >
> > You are still listing your domain names in the article body, which according to our guidelines, is too self-promotional.
> >
> > Also, your article is formated as a blog post. Per our guidelines we will not accept articles that are in the form of a Blog Post or Correspondence. We will only accept informative, instructional, unique
> > articles.
> >
> > Thank you,
> > Abby
> > https://EzineArticles.com/
> >
> >
> > At 04:42 PM 9/19/2007 Wednesday, you wrote:
> > >
> > > I now fixed the problem and you still rejected it. I’m not “selling” or “promoting” anything. Please let me know what is wrong.
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > >
> > > Todd
> > >
> > > Original Message: (From: EzineArticles Support on Sep 19, 2007 12:54 PM)
> > > ———————————————————————————————–
> > > Hi Todd,
> > >
> > > You are allowed to include 3 self-serving links in your article, the
> > > article consists of both the body and the resource box. Two of the
> > > three MUST be in your resource box, and any link in your body would
> > > need to be placed in a way that is not seen as promotional.
> > >
> > > This is stated in our Editorial Guidelines
> > > (https://ezinearticles.com/editorial-guidelines.html), section 2.f:
> > >
> > > “If you put all 3 of the active self serving links that we allow in
> > > the body of your article, we will reject it. Any use of anchored text
> > > links to websites that you own should add value to the article topic
> > > rather than stand out as an obvious abuse an anchored text link.”
> > >
> > > Thank you for your understanding.
> > >
> > >
> > > Thank you,
> > > Casey
> > > Member Services Specialist
> > > https://EzineArticles.com/
> > >
> > > ——
> > > Important Information: If you wish to reply to this message, please
> > > keep the tracking number in the subject.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > At 10:37 AM 9/19/2007 Wednesday, you wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > > At 12:54 PM 9/19/2007 Wednesday, EzineArticles.com Support wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Hi Todd,
> > > >
> > > > You are allowed to include 3 self-serving links in your article, the article consists of both the body and the resource box. Two of the three MUST be in your resource box, and any link in your body would need to be placed in a way that is not seen as promotional.
> > > >
> > > > This is stated in our Editorial Guidelines (https://ezinearticles.com/editorial-guidelines.html), section 2.f:
> > > >
> > > > “If you put all 3 of the active self serving links that we allow in the body of your article, we will reject it. Any use of anchored text links to websites that you own should add value to the article topic rather than stand out as an obvious abuse an anchored text link.”
> > > >
> > > > Thank you for your understanding.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Thank you,
> > > > Casey
> > > > Member Services Specialist
> > > > https://EzineArticles.com/
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > At 10:37 AM 9/19/2007 Wednesday, you wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > Please correct me if I’m wrong but I believe I’m entitled to list and link to 3 websites in the body of my article, correct? That’s what I did.
> > > > >
> > > > > Todd
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Original Message: (From: EzineArticles Support on Sep 19, 2007 10:17 AM)
> > > > > ———————————————————————————————–
> > > > > Hi Todd,
> > > > >
> > > > > The problem we are having is that you are listing your websites in
> > > > > the article body, which is considered self-promotion.
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Thank you,
> > > > > Casey
> > > > > Member Services Specialist
> > > > > https://EzineArticles.com/
> > > > >
> > > > > ——
> > > > > Important Information: If you wish to reply to this message, please
> > > > > keep the tracking number in the subject.
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > At 09:11 AM 9/15/2007 Saturday, you wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > At 10:17 AM 9/19/2007 Wednesday, EzineArticles.com Support wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Hi Todd,
> > > > > >
> > > > > > The problem we are having is that you are listing your websites in the article body, which is considered self-promotion.
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Thank you,
> > > > > > Casey
> > > > > > Member Services Specialist
> > > > > > https://EzineArticles.com/
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > At 09:11 AM 9/15/2007 Saturday, you wrote:
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > I don’t understand why my article was rejected…I’m not advertising anything for sale in it.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Please advise,
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Todd
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
Todd Mintz knows PPC…knows Social Media…knows SEO…knows Blogging…knows Domaining…and knows them all real well. He runs growth marketing for )and is also a Director & Founding Member of SEMpdx: Portland, Oregon’s Search Engine Marketing Association, and he can be found here on Twitter and Facebook.
Ya, they made me write [dot]com after the domain I was using as an example in a similar situation…
I don’t have link at all. And they say I’m prmoting myself. I don’t know what is going on.
I used to be a fan of ezines too…sigh, now almost every time I submit an article I get the same “problem” with article email back. Every time it says that my url is not correct. I do it exactly as they say I should in the guidelines. When I write to them, suddenly everything works and the article gets published.
But EVERY new article goes through the same rejection at least two times. I am so frustrated! I don’t know what the heck is going on over there but something is very wrong.
Just stick to two links in the resource box…I have about 40 articles with them. The only ones that were rejected were when I placed the wrong name in the resource box….didn’t match one of my “pen names”, all were fixed and accepted.
They wrote back to me and said that my site wasn’t informative and very helpful. In short they are saying that they will not accept my article because my site is crap. I say, well I am only one person and just started the site so give me a break. We all can’t have a huge article site ripping off other people unique written content so we can gain financially from our advertisers and anyone who is pulled in by the scam of going premium. Ya bitches, screw ezinearticles. They seem to have gotten picky in my oppinion so that the more unique and helpful the content the better they keep high on the ranking etc.